Also posted on Bolter & Chainsword forums
Played on a 4x4 board with ~25% terrain.
The lists:
EC-AACNMTO
Crusader (5/1, BP/CCW, melta, Pod)
Crusader (5/0, BP/CCW, melta, PF, Pod)
Crusader (5/0, BP/CCW, melta, PF, Pod)
Dreadnought (MM/HF, EA, Pod)
Dreadnought (MM/HF, EA, Pod)
Land Speeder Typhoon w/ Heavy Bolter
Land Speeder Typhoon w/ Heavy Bolter
Forgive me, I don't know Dark Eldar, but here is what he had:
2x Triple Lance Gunships (Ravagers)
4x Single Lance Transports (Raider)
Archon + Incubi_
Wyches
Pair of Kabalite squads
3x Jet Bikes with the blade thing and S6 melta equivalent. (Reavers)
He won the role and deployed first. All I knew about the Dark Eldar is that they move fast, have lots of lances and some fun special rules of some sort with Pain Tokens. I made my first mistake, even though I knew I should deploy the Speeders in cover to do some sniping and inhibit his movement, I chose to go ahead and do a full drop since it was the first time I was playing a drop army. Which meant he had two full turns of fast movement to deploy around the board, covering the back armor of his gunships, deploying into cover and moving flat out on the second turn so that he got the 4+ save no matter what. Not skirmishing with my Speeders pretty much cost me the game.
Turn 2BT: One DN and the Crusader squad I'd attached the EC to dropped in (EC was with the wrong squad, one of the PF ones). Dropped them by the Ravagers to eliminate the biggest AT threat. Scatter was irrelevant. The DN melta took a weapon off one Ravager and its HF glanced to shake the crew. The Crusaders exploded the other Ravager with their melta (one Initiate dies in the explosion). Storm bolter fire from the pods was ineffective.
Turn 3DE: The Reavers do some kind of flyby slashing attacks on the Crusader squad (1 Initiate lost), several of the transports lance the DN, exploding it. One pod loses its Storm Bolter. Archon and Incubi deploy to assault the EC led Crusaders. The Archon kills the EC in a flurry of hits with some kind of instakill weapon, although I failed two invulnerable saves anyway. The Incubi finish off the last three Initiates.
Turn 3BT: The other two Crusaders and both Speeders deep strike in, leaving one DN in reserve. Scatter was a bit fun, but the range on the Heavy Bolters and Typhoons made it irrelevant for the Speeders (although one did peg the chosen spot), one Crusader scattered right across their target and some dangerous terrain so it ended up back where it started, the other Crusader scattered away from the Reavers towards the Archon's Raider. Storm Bolter fire was again irrelevant. The Speeders managed to explode the Wyches' Raider (all make saves and no pinning), the scattered Crusaders exploded the Archon's Raider (costing him an Incubi after all the saves) and the other Crusaders managed to shake the last Ravager again.
Turn 4DE: Various moving around, the Reavers' blade thing costs me a pair of Initiates and the Neophyte and that squad is finished off by the Archon and Incubi. One Speeder wrecked and the other shaken. The Wyches boil down the slope and assault the third Crusader Squad ending up with two surviving Initiates (whatever that insane bonus attack rule is, he only scored something like 1 in 3 hits) who took down a pair of Wyches.
Turn 4BT: The last DN drops in, scatters across the board, from its original target (Ravager) to another one (Raider with Kabalites). It misses with MM and doesn't glance with the HF. Storm Bolter fire ineffective. Last Speeder flat outs across the board. The Wyches kill the last of the Initiates in CC.
Turn 5DE: The last four lance weapons unload into the back of the DN, finally getting an explosion on the last hit. The Reavers shoot the last Speeder with their melta=type weapons and do nothing. Being down to a Speeder and four Pods with BS2 Storm Bolters, I called it at this point. Yeah I probably could have gotten a couple of models, but it was over.
Lessons Learned:
A: Especially against fast & mobile forces, the Typhoons need to start on the board to at least provide a distraction by maneuvering around flat out until the pods start falling. I'd already considered this tactic as one to follow most of the time, but was swayed by my desire to let them all drop the first time (maybe I shouldn't have reread Starship Troopers the week before last: "Everyone drops," must have been on my mind). IMO, this should be followed for almost all games with the pod army if you are using LS-Typhoons.
B: Other than the initial drop of two units, I should have dropped into more mutually supporting positions, my units were too isolated to support each other which allowed my opponent to swarm with his much faster units. This was complicated by A above because I didn't limit his mobility.
C: Pods with Storm Bolters suX0rz to the max. I don't think even the new effectiveness of the Land Speeder Typhoon helps that much. The only time a shot was taken at one was when a unit had nothing else to shoot at. I know the Deathwinds took a hit on their light armor killing capability but in both a swirling fight like this one or a straight up battle, besides the anti-infantry effectiveness, there is the exact same ability to shake or stun a vehicle. Okay, I lose the kill potential (except vs. AV10 vehicles, but it was only good to AV11 anyway, if they were open top), but denying the ability to shoot and/or move also has its uses. I'm going to play this list a few more times against different armies, but I'm getting the feeling that the Pods are pretty much just cover with only Storm Bolters. Yeah, I might get a lucky shot or three off, but they really aren't any threat. Just terrain.
Played on a 4x4 board with ~25% terrain.
The lists:
EC-AACNMTO
Crusader (5/1, BP/CCW, melta, Pod)
Crusader (5/0, BP/CCW, melta, PF, Pod)
Crusader (5/0, BP/CCW, melta, PF, Pod)
Dreadnought (MM/HF, EA, Pod)
Dreadnought (MM/HF, EA, Pod)
Land Speeder Typhoon w/ Heavy Bolter
Land Speeder Typhoon w/ Heavy Bolter
Forgive me, I don't know Dark Eldar, but here is what he had:
2x Triple Lance Gunships (Ravagers)
4x Single Lance Transports (Raider)
Archon + Incubi_
Wyches
Pair of Kabalite squads
3x Jet Bikes with the blade thing and S6 melta equivalent. (Reavers)
He won the role and deployed first. All I knew about the Dark Eldar is that they move fast, have lots of lances and some fun special rules of some sort with Pain Tokens. I made my first mistake, even though I knew I should deploy the Speeders in cover to do some sniping and inhibit his movement, I chose to go ahead and do a full drop since it was the first time I was playing a drop army. Which meant he had two full turns of fast movement to deploy around the board, covering the back armor of his gunships, deploying into cover and moving flat out on the second turn so that he got the 4+ save no matter what. Not skirmishing with my Speeders pretty much cost me the game.
Turn 2BT: One DN and the Crusader squad I'd attached the EC to dropped in (EC was with the wrong squad, one of the PF ones). Dropped them by the Ravagers to eliminate the biggest AT threat. Scatter was irrelevant. The DN melta took a weapon off one Ravager and its HF glanced to shake the crew. The Crusaders exploded the other Ravager with their melta (one Initiate dies in the explosion). Storm bolter fire from the pods was ineffective.
Turn 3DE: The Reavers do some kind of flyby slashing attacks on the Crusader squad (1 Initiate lost), several of the transports lance the DN, exploding it. One pod loses its Storm Bolter. Archon and Incubi deploy to assault the EC led Crusaders. The Archon kills the EC in a flurry of hits with some kind of instakill weapon, although I failed two invulnerable saves anyway. The Incubi finish off the last three Initiates.
Turn 3BT: The other two Crusaders and both Speeders deep strike in, leaving one DN in reserve. Scatter was a bit fun, but the range on the Heavy Bolters and Typhoons made it irrelevant for the Speeders (although one did peg the chosen spot), one Crusader scattered right across their target and some dangerous terrain so it ended up back where it started, the other Crusader scattered away from the Reavers towards the Archon's Raider. Storm Bolter fire was again irrelevant. The Speeders managed to explode the Wyches' Raider (all make saves and no pinning), the scattered Crusaders exploded the Archon's Raider (costing him an Incubi after all the saves) and the other Crusaders managed to shake the last Ravager again.
Turn 4DE: Various moving around, the Reavers' blade thing costs me a pair of Initiates and the Neophyte and that squad is finished off by the Archon and Incubi. One Speeder wrecked and the other shaken. The Wyches boil down the slope and assault the third Crusader Squad ending up with two surviving Initiates (whatever that insane bonus attack rule is, he only scored something like 1 in 3 hits) who took down a pair of Wyches.
Turn 4BT: The last DN drops in, scatters across the board, from its original target (Ravager) to another one (Raider with Kabalites). It misses with MM and doesn't glance with the HF. Storm Bolter fire ineffective. Last Speeder flat outs across the board. The Wyches kill the last of the Initiates in CC.
Turn 5DE: The last four lance weapons unload into the back of the DN, finally getting an explosion on the last hit. The Reavers shoot the last Speeder with their melta=type weapons and do nothing. Being down to a Speeder and four Pods with BS2 Storm Bolters, I called it at this point. Yeah I probably could have gotten a couple of models, but it was over.
Lessons Learned:
A: Especially against fast & mobile forces, the Typhoons need to start on the board to at least provide a distraction by maneuvering around flat out until the pods start falling. I'd already considered this tactic as one to follow most of the time, but was swayed by my desire to let them all drop the first time (maybe I shouldn't have reread Starship Troopers the week before last: "Everyone drops," must have been on my mind). IMO, this should be followed for almost all games with the pod army if you are using LS-Typhoons.
B: Other than the initial drop of two units, I should have dropped into more mutually supporting positions, my units were too isolated to support each other which allowed my opponent to swarm with his much faster units. This was complicated by A above because I didn't limit his mobility.
C: Pods with Storm Bolters suX0rz to the max. I don't think even the new effectiveness of the Land Speeder Typhoon helps that much. The only time a shot was taken at one was when a unit had nothing else to shoot at. I know the Deathwinds took a hit on their light armor killing capability but in both a swirling fight like this one or a straight up battle, besides the anti-infantry effectiveness, there is the exact same ability to shake or stun a vehicle. Okay, I lose the kill potential (except vs. AV10 vehicles, but it was only good to AV11 anyway, if they were open top), but denying the ability to shoot and/or move also has its uses. I'm going to play this list a few more times against different armies, but I'm getting the feeling that the Pods are pretty much just cover with only Storm Bolters. Yeah, I might get a lucky shot or three off, but they really aren't any threat. Just terrain.
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